


Bag of Bones

by AngelTrix



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-03
Updated: 2019-01-03
Packaged: 2019-10-03 09:56:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17281892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelTrix/pseuds/AngelTrix
Summary: Trying to reshape the finale of season 5 to make me happy.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything in at least two years and this shows it. I hope the new season brings fresh inspiration to me so I don't go years before writing something more. There are much longer author's notes at the beginning of chapter one.

A/N: With the long hiatus I decided to try and fix he horrible mess that we were left with by TPTB. Liz should be thanking Red for everything he’s done for her instead of trying to destroy him for keeping a secret from her. Tom was not worth the screen time spent on him. Red is not her father, or for those that seems to think the “Redarina” theory is possible, Red’s not her mother either. Why is she so stupid to trust a woman she just met that tells her they share a father? All she has is Jennifer’s word on who she is, hasn’t she learned to not trust someone so easily. Obviously not, she still believed Tom lover her even while still lying to her.

AN/2: For the sake of my sanity I’m going to continue calling the man posing as Raymond Reddington as Red and the original’s other daughter is going to be called Jennifer and not Lily and his wife will be Carla. You need a roadmap to keep track of all these aliases. 

A/N3: I hoped to have this finished a long time before the new season started. Here we are the day before the premier and I’m posting what I have written. It’s going to be left open at the end in case I feel it can be continued once the season starts. This may feel a bit disjointed, but since there were long gaps between writing sessions it’s to be expected. I’m trying to smooth things out while editing it, but I might miss the mark. Enjoy!

 

It has been a long few days. Red knew it was going to be a longer stretch of time before he would be able to relax. He’d waited patiently for Lizzie to call him while he and Dembe drove with the damn bag of bone up to Dom’s farmhouse. His hope was that she would call him to confess that the entire kidnapping has been a ruse. He found himself disappointed that she thought he believed the poorly planned and executed ploy.

Unlike Lizzie he’d requested all the information that his extensive intelligence network could find out about the woman claiming to be Jennifer Reddington. The woman was good, he’d give her points for committing so fully to the role. What neither she or Garvey had known was that when Carla disappeared from the life that the Marshal’s had established for her was due to Red himself and not one of his enemies.

After Jennifer had walked away from him at the cemetery it took one quick call to confirm that Carla was still living in the small town that Red had settled them in. He had Dembe send her a picture of the woman claiming to be Jennifer Reddington. She told him that she had no idea who that woman was, but it wasn’t her daughter.

After another thirty minutes, they arrived at Dom’s farmhouse. He met them outside of this door.

“What are you doing here?” Dom asked in his slightly accented voice.

Red didn’t take offense at the curt question. Dom was just that way. His social skills got worse and worse the more he stayed in isolation.

“I came here to get rid of the last set of bones that Mr. Kaplan uncovered. You’re right that I should have destroyed these years ago,” Red answered before turning away and walking around the house to where Dom had a little picnic table setup with a barrel he burned his trash in sitting next to it.

Without a word from Red Dembe started to lay a number of firewood pieces into the metal barrel. The fire would need to be hot to turn the bones into nothing but ash.

“Did Masha find out who the bones belong to?” Dom asked before settling down in a chair near the table.

“Yes, she knows. She tried to make me believe that I got them back before she was able to find out who they belonged to. What she didn’t realize that I’ve had the woman that she thinks is her sister under surveillance. My men saw Elizabeth with her “sister” and the man that ended up with the bones meeting a few times before the farce of a kidnapping they played out,” Red answered shortly.

He opened the zipper on the bad and pulled out a leg that he then tossed into the fire that was now roaring. It was going to take a long time to burn all the bones down to ash. Before they left that night, he would make sure nothing would be remaining that could be used for another DNA test.

“Why does she want you to believe that she is still in the dark about the bones?” Dom asked with a puzzled look on his old grizzled visage.

“She’s going to try and figure out my real identity and why I’m so determined to keep her safe. And, she blames me for her husband’s death. She’s always had a blind spot when it comes to that weasel. It doesn’t matter that it was Tom’s determination to find out the secret of the bones that lead to his death. If he’d given the bag to me he’d still be alive.”

Up until now Dembe had sat quietly.

“Elizabeth has always been impulsive. She has always leapt into action without considering what the results of her actions may be. I have to admit I don’t understand how she can so easily ignore everything you’ve done for her and Agnes while she recovered from the injuries she got during the fight when Tom as killed. You supplied round the clock nursing and medical care. Made sure Agnes wanted for nothing. As soon as she was well enough she sent Agnes to Tom’s mother. No one in their right mind would entrust a child to that woman,” he finally finished angrily.

Red hadn’t realized how angry Dembe was with Lizzie. He knew that Dembe had become very attached to the little girl, but he never knew how much he resented Red’s treatment at her hands.

“I would have said something about it, but she would have just become more determined to get her away from me. Until the memories that Dr. Krilov manipulated come back to her she’s going to continue blaming me for everything bad that’s happened to her in the last couple of years,” Red said trying to remind Dembe why she’s been acting so erratically.

“You should get Krilov and force him to fix what he did,” Dembe stated.

Dom was confused when the discussion turned to this doctor. He knew that Raymond used a doctor when Masha was four to block the memories of the night of the fire. She suffered terrible nightmares. It was the only thing that allowed her to deal with all the changes that happened in her life after that night. But, this was nearly thirty years ago. What was done to her recently?

“What are you talking about? What did this doctor do to her?” Dom asked them both. He didn’t care who answered him as long as someone did so.

Dembe glanced at Raymond to see if he was going to answer Dom’s question. He felt it was past time for answers to be revealed.

After Red tossed the other leg from the bag on to the fire he turned to face Dom.

“A couple of years ago, just a day or two after we managed to get Elizabeth’s freedom restored from the charges of murdering Tom Connolly, she disappeared for a few hours. My men followed her to the marina where she met up with her ex-husband. She told me she was going there to thank him for his help in capturing Karakurt. She was supposed to come back after that meeting. I can only assuming Krilov was waiting onboard his boat when she arrived. That’s the only way he could have gotten her and the doctor together. My men stayed outside of the boat all night and they never left the boat. The next day she showed up at my current safe house and she was a completely different person. I thought she’d realized she still loved him and wanted to go back to him,” he finished with a miserable look on his face.

“You didn’t ask her what happened?” asked Dom.

“We’ve always excelled at not talking about anything personal. I thought we’d changed. When she started to act like she did previously, I just accepted it,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Elizabeth always had a blind spot when it came to Tom. It didn’t seem out of character for her to change so drastically when it came to him. I’d hoped that she realized that he was no good for her. Then when she found out she was pregnant and insisted that Tom was the father, I assumed she didn’t do the math and found it odd that Agnes was obviously full term and not premature at birth. There was no way Tom could have been the father,” Dembe told Dom. He knew Raymond would never admit to Dom that he, Raymond, was the father of his great-granddaughter.  
The group was quiet for a time while Red tossed bones into the fire.

“So, my great-granddaughter is your daughter. I’m not sure if that is better or worse having this Tom as the father. I never met the man, but what you’ve told me I wouldn’t want him anywhere near Masha,” Dom said.

“It wasn’t something I planned, but also didn’t do anything to prevent it,” Red said quietly.

Dom didn’t respond. The look he gave Red said everything for him. He wasn’t happy with him, but he trusted him still to protect Masha with his life.

After all the bones were destroyed they moved their discussion to Dom’s living room. They were all quiet while they shared a drink.

Dom finally broke the silence.

“What are you going to do with Masha?”

“I’m going to pretend that I think she doesn’t know the identity of the bones. I don’t think she’s going to be able to keep the secret for very long. She’s never showed that she had the patience necessary. The wildcard is Jennifer or whoever she really is,” Red said downing the rest of his drink.

“Do you need me to do anything? I’m reasonable sure she still doesn’t know who I am,” Dom asked him.

“No, I want to keep her from finding out your true identity until she’s back to her former self. I still hope it’s possible to lead her through the shock and anger she’s experiencing over Tom’s death and the truth about her father,” Red said deeply troubled by the situation.


	2. Chapter 2

Red and Dembe returned to their permanent base of operations in their Falls Church condo. He’d relaxed his strict rule of only staying in one place for two nights at a time during Elizabeth’s coma and early recovery. During that year he’d spent every night at the coastal house that he’d chosen for its proximity to the scent and sounds of the ocean. He found it comforting and hoped that she had too.

The team that he had shadowing Elizabeth’s every move called Dembe to let them know that Elizabeth and Jennifer were on their way to the condo. Red told Dembe to have the guards allow them through.

A few minutes later they heard a sharp rap on the door. Dembe opened the door to see both women on the stoop.

“Ladies please come in,” he said stepping to one side so they could move past him into the condo.

Both women followed by Dembe walked down the short hallway to the great room where Red was currently seated. He’d removed his suit jacket and slung it across the couch back. He’d also removed his tie and opened up the first couple of buttons on his white dress shirt.

“Agent Keen, Jennifer. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit,” Red asked expansively.

“We want to know what you did with the duffle bag and its contents,” Lizzie demanded.

“As I’ve repeatedly told you the contents of the bag were none of your business. That has not changed,” Red replied eyeing the women closely.

He was looking for some tell that would confirm what he suspected, that they both knew what and who had been in the bag.

“Where is the bag Reddington,” Lizzie asked again, but his time with her gun pointed directly at Red’s chest.

“The bag is in the trunk of my car. You are welcome to it. The contents however are beyond anyone’s reach now. As they should have been years ago,” Red told without appearing to have noticed Lizzie’s gun. It wasn’t the first time he’d been at the end of a loaded gun.

“What did you do with the contents,” Lizzie asked angrily.

“Why do you care? You don’t even know what was in the bag, or do you?” Red mused openly.

“Tom died trying to get the truth of those bones to me,” she responded tightly.

“Ah, so you do know what was in the bag and I can only assume you know the identity of the bones. I suspected as much when I realized you were in no danger at the warehouse. I don’t know why you are surprised. After all, you are the one that killed him,” Red stopped speaking at Jennifer’s sharp intake of breath at the news.

“Oh, she didn’t tell you that little detail. You do have to forgive her. She was only four years old at the time. Your father and Lizzie’s mother were fighting. The gun was dropped in the fight. Masha picked it up and shot the man that was hurting her mother. She had no idea that the man was her biological father. She’d only seen him the first time when he kidnapped her and took her to America,” he explained to Jennifer.

“And, Jennifer, if you are in fact Jennifer Reddington, your mother is alive and well. I’m not sure what the ruse with the headstone was supposed to accomplish.”

“What do you mean if she is Jennifer Reddington?” Lizzie asked anxiously.

“Carla would never have faked her death because of what she would have put Jennifer through at the news. I will say she’s now single again. Her husband couldn’t handle being faithful. I reached out to her and asked if it was Jennifer in a picture Dembe sent to her,” he answered without taking his eyes off of Jennifer’s face.

“Are you Jennifer or not?” Lizzie asked as she shifted her gun to point at Jennifer.

Jennifer began to look nervous at the sight of the gun being pointed at her.

“Don’t tell me you believe him. He’s done nothing but lie to you since you’ve met,” she said frantically.

Red’s calm voice cut through the tension.

“Actually, I’ve never lied to Lizzie. Believe it or not, I had my name legally changed to Raymond Reddington. I never said I was her father. When she asked me I told her the truth, that I was not her father. After Director Cooper ran his DNA test and the results said that Raymond Reddington was her father, I never said I was her father,” he said firmly

“Who are you?” Lizzie growled at the other woman.

“I’m Jennifer Reddington. He’s trying to get you to distrust me. He’s taken our father’s name. We need to find out who he really is and why he’s impersonating our father,” Jennifer said even more desperately.

Lizzie slowly dropped her gun to her side. She stood silently gazing at the woman she believed to be her sister. After a long moment, she turned to look at Red again.

“You said you reached out to Carla. Did she say whether she’s Jennifer for not?” she asked much calmer than Jennifer.

“She said that this woman is not her daughter. The question becomes, what does she have to gain by pretending to be Jennifer,” Red again looked for some tell from the woman.

Whoever Jennifer really was she had been trained well. There was nary a flicker of emotion giving her away. She was starting to become very interesting to Red.

“Why would I pretend to be Jennifer? What do I have to gain?” she asked them before taking a seat across from Red.

“That’s the question isn’t it. Why would Ian Garvey be so interested in an old suitcase if he didn’t already know what was in it? You’ve been playing a game that is more dangerous than I think you know,” he said with a growl.

When Jennifer didn’t respond, he continued.

“You can tell us who you really are and why you and Garvey killed Tom Keen to get the bag away from him, almost killing Elizabeth in the process or you’ll force to me extract the information from you,” Red said with a look of barely contained rage radiating from his eyes.

“I’ve already told you who I am, why I’m working against you is obvious,” Jennifer said.

Lizzie had been uncharacteristically quiet during this whole exchange. She had her own memories of killing a man as a four-year-old and that her father was there that night. She felt she owed Red the benefit of the doubt at this point.

“I never thought to question your motivation for uncovering what was in the bag that Garvey killed my husband to obtain. I was so happy to have someone in my quest for the truth that I didn’t consider if our motivations were the same. Looking at you now I suspect we are not working towards the same goal,” she said taking a seat next to Red on the sofa.

Red who had been sitting calmly, but keeping a close eye on the woman seated across from him and Lizzie. He didn’t trust her to not attack one of both of them in a bid to regain her freedom.

Dembe entered the room and walked over to Red’s side. He leaned down and murmured into Red’s ear.

“Thank you Dembe,” Red said to the man.

Red drew his gun from the holster in the small of his back in one smooth move.

“My patience is growing thin. Now, my dear, let me ask you again, what is your name?” he demanded coldly.

“You can’t kill her until we find out who else she is working with, there have to be more involved. It can’t just be her and Garvey.”

At the look of fear on the woman’s face Red said, “I won’t kill her until I get some answers from her. Dembe just let me know that Brimley is here to conduct the interrogation,” Red told her.

Jennifer visibly relaxed. She knew her training would keep her secret safe. She’d spent years learning how to resist questioning.

“I wouldn’t relax too much. Brimley is a highly experienced and inventive interrogator. He wouldn’t be in my employ otherwise. In fact, his interview for the job was to get the answer to a certain question from me. I was trained in the service and by others to endure torture without breaking. Even I couldn’t withstand questioning at his hand,” Red warned her.

Lizzie found this information surprising. She knew that he’d been tortured a number of times since he’d started working with the FBI. From what she could tell he’d always showed up as if all that he experienced was a walk in the park. Knowing that Red broke under Brimley’s questioning caused her to make a promise to herself. If she was ever threatened with questioning by Brimley she’d spill her guts. She couldn’t think of a single piece of data worth suffering through that type of questioning.

Red let her consider her choice to talk without Brimley’s help or to take her chances.

The group started a little at the sounds of wheels running over the hardwood floors outside of the room. He shortly appeared dragging his ever-present oxygen tank. Red knew everyone underestimated the man, but they ultimately learned to fear the man.

“Dembe will you please get him setup in the pantry?” Red requested quietly. He remained quiet, not taking his eyes from Jennifer.

“I’m going to give you another chance to tell me who you are and who hired you to impersonate Jennifer Reddington. I’m not sure what allegiance you feel towards them, but I’m reasonably sure they don’t feel the same towards you,” he told her coldly.

“Save me the threats. We both know that I’m not going to be allowed to leave here alive. I know your secret. A secret that you are willing to kill everyone but her to keep. Since I have nothing to gain by giving you your answers, you can go to hell,” she spat at Red.

“I don’t this there’s any doubt that’s exactly where I’m heading, but you can save yourself a lot of pain. Mr. Brimley will get the information from you. His methods are not like anything you’ve been conditioned to withstand. It’s your choice, what is going to be, give me the answers I’m seeking or Mr. Brimley?” Red asked her as Dembe stopped behind her seat.

Jennifer glanced back over her shoulder when she felt someone come up behind her.

“Maybe my training is a bit better than yours. I’ll take my chances,” she said before standing up and letting Dembe escort her from the room.

“Can your man really get the truth from her just what lies he’s prepared to pretend he got out of her?” Lizzie asked him.

“Teddy is very adept at knowing when one of his subjects is lying or telling the truth. Trust me when I say the answer he got out of me only came about after a number of attempts to get him to believe a lie. He’ll get the answers we need from her,” he assured her.

After the interrogation began and the cries from the woman started, Lizzie had to leave the room.

As she wondered around Red’s luxurious condo she realized it was much bigger that she realized. Besides the living area and kitchen, she’d found four large bedrooms and a bathroom. Past the bedrooms, she found a set of stairs leading to a second floor.

She slowly climbed to the second floor. She started to feel like she was intruding too much on Red’s privacy. She rationalized her snooping was payback for the many times Red entered her home without permission.

On the second floor, she found more closed doors. With Dembe, Red and Paris all downstairs she felt no need to knock before opening the doors.

The first door she opened was a bedroom that she felt was Dembe’s. Nothing in the room pointed to him, but after spending so much time with him while she was on the run she instinctively knew it was his.

The door across the hall from Dembe’s was another bathroom. This one was obviously more used that the pristine one she’d found downstairs. She recognized Dembe’s razor and other personal items neatly laid out on the vanity.

She continued her search, opening the door next to the bathroom. This room looked unoccupied. She now wondered where Paris stayed as all the bedrooms downstairs appeared unused as well.

The final door was on the same side as Dembe’s. She hesitated to open what she now knew to be Red’s room. Knowing it had to be his meant she couldn’t excuse intruding further into his private domain.  
“You can go in if you like Lizzie. I don’t mind,” he said from behind her.

“Did Jennifer say anything already?” she asked surprised.

“No, not yet. When you disappeared, I thought you’d simply gone to use the facilities. When you didn’t come back I grew concerned. I know how distressing it can be to listen to one of Brimley’s sessions,” he said soothingly.

“I know it has to be done, but you’re right it’s hard to listen to.”

“I want you to know that I’ve always told you I don’t lie to you. I also know that you feel I’ve been lying to you from the first day we met. All I can say is that other than keeping my birth name from you, I’ve never lied to you. I’ve told you the truth every time you’ve asked me a question not related to a Blacklister,” he tried to assure her.

“Lizzie knowing my name will not change anything. If the truth about my identity were to become public knowledge you would be putting an even bigger target on my back,” he told her earnestly.

She turned towards him with a confused look.

“How would anyone learning that my father died thirty years ago make it more dangerous for you? For all those years it was you acting as him, committing all of those crimes and building this huge criminal empire, twice! Whether you did as John Smith or Raymond Reddington, it was still you.”

He walked past her and opened the door to his suite.

“Come in Lizzie and sit down. I’ll try to explain why everyone still needs to think I’m Raymond Reddington,” he said waving her towards a small sitting area in the corner.

When they were both seated facing each other across a small table, he continued their discussion.

“In the criminal world, reputation is everything. Should it be made know that I’m not Raymond Reddington my competitors will use that information to make me seem weak, despite the fact that for all intents and purposes I am Reddington now. I don’t think I will ever be able to go back to the man, the name, I was before. I’ve been Raymond Reddington longer than I was ever that other man.”

She now felt guilty for letting Cooper in on the secret that the bag contained bones. She didn’t tell him who’s bones were in there, it was enough that the secret of the bones nearly getting her killed was enough to get Cooper on her side against Red.

Right now she wasn’t sure how she felt about the bag, the bones, and Red’s real identity. What he said about his being the man that was Raymond Reddington for the past thirty years was true. It’s also true that he was the man who repeatedly offered himself up to capture, torture and possible death to save her. She’d let herself forget this in her blind search for revenge. But, why did her search not end with the death of Garvey? She thought because Tom died trying to tell her about the bag, a bag that she didn’t know existed until he brought it into their home, into their daughter’s bedroom.

“I’m sorry. I should have respected your privacy. Too many people have died because of that damn bag. Did Mr. Kaplan know what she was unleashing when she sent the bag to Tom?” she asked.

Red sat quietly for a long time pondering her question.

“One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made was allowing my anger to rule my actions after we returned from Cuba. If I’d sent her away for a while none of this would have happened. I just in that moment felt I couldn’t trust her anymore. There is enough blame to go around,” he said closing his eyes tiredly. 

He was so tired of always being tired.

“Kaplan told me that she was my nanny. I wasn’t sure whether that was true, but I walked in on her and Agnes once. She’d been telling her that she was strong and wise. The affirmation seemed so familiar. When I stated I’d heard it before she said she used to tell me it when she was my nanny. At the time, she was doing her best to destroy you. I didn’t know how I felt about it all,” she confessed.

Red opened his eyes to glance at her. He understood her confusion. Should she be on the side of the woman who was hired by her mother to care for her or the man that brought nothing but danger into her life.

“She was your nanny. I think one of the reasons she hired her was the fact that Kate spoke Russian and would be able to teach you English. At the time, you only spoke Russian. Plus, Kate had impeccable references from previous families for which she’d worked. But, until Katarina she’d never done anything illegal,” he told her.

She wasn’t sure how to feel about that bit of news. She always thought that Kate had a long background of illegal acts, like Red.

“What about you? Did you live a straight arrow type of life before getting involved with my parents?” she asked not really expecting him to answer.

Red stayed quiet as he and Liz stared into each other’s eyes. With a slight sigh, he decided to answer.  
“I attended the Naval Academy with your father. If there’d been even a hint of criminal behavior in our backgrounds we wouldn’t have been accepted. That’s funny considering what they turned us into after graduation. No Lizzie, I was an honorable man until circumstances  
forced me to become something else to survive. When the men I trusted ordered the murder of my wife and daughter I realized I couldn’t gain justice for them by following the rules of polite society. Do you remember the night you shot your father and you go that burn on your arm?” he asked her hesitantly.

“I remember shooting a man that was hurting my mother. I’ll believe you if you say that was my father. I don’t really remember how I got the burn. All I remember are flashes of a fire burning in my bedroom, my toys burning. I never really considered how I got out of the fire,” she said in surprise.

Red nodded in response to her statement.

“Let’s go back downstairs in case Dembe or Brimley need us,” he said in a bid for more time before exposing more of the night of the fire.


	3. Chapter 3

Once they were again seated on the couch downstairs he started the story of that night.

“The details of the night of the fire was one of the things we tried to make you forget along with your father’s death. Your mother told Kate to take you to Sam and to hire this doctor that specialized in memory manipulation. Apparently, you’d been having nightmares every night after the fire. Kate was barely able to get you to sleep after you had one. Sam didn’t want to take you, he’d never really had any experience with kids. But, once she showed up with you he took one look at you and agreed to take you,” he told her.

“You’re telling me all it took for him to decide to adopt me was one look? I don’t remember him being that sentimental,” she said sarcastically.

“Sentimental, maybe not. Kind and caring he was most definitely. He said you looked like you’d been awake for days, with your little hand and wrist bandaged up. Once she told him that both of your parents were dead, he couldn’t refuse. Sam gave you the stable, loving home that they wanted for you, but couldn’t provide for you themselves,” he stated.

“Why didn’t you raise me? You had a daughter and would have had experience with children?” she asked him.

“Remember the story of Christmas Eve 1991? How Raymond Reddington supposedly disappeared on his way home to his wife and daughter?” he asked her.

“Of course. Are you saying it didn’t happen that way?” she asked.

“I’m saying the authorities, the men in power that were trying to maintain control over Reddington and his partner in the Naval Intelligence, combined the story of the two men to explain the disappearance of both. The night of the fire was Christmas Eve 1991. The Cabal sent men to your house to capture your father. In their opinion he was the more dangerous of the two. You’d shot him before they’d gotten there. They pulled your mother out of the house when they found your father. They set a fire to cover up what happened. They didn’t care that you were hiding in the house. A single child didn’t matter to them. I managed to get into the house before it got to the closet you were hiding in. But, on the way out part of the house fell on my back knocking me to the floor. If I’d known what was happening at my house at that time I may have just given up there, but all I could see was you crying in terror with flames all around you,” he said quietly.

“What happened at your house?” she asked not sure that she really wanted an answer.

“When we got outside and managed to put out the flames on my back, your mom was there. She’d managed to kill the men trying to drag her away. She took you somewhere safe. I drove to my house, barely remaining conscious. When I got there all I could see was blood everywhere. I finally found them laying under the Christmas tree. I don’t remember much about the rest of the night. I called Katarina and told her what happened. She had Kate come over to take care of my family. She arranged to have them buried in a small cemetery in the Boston area. Katarina knew of a clinic that would treat my burns under an alias. While Kate was busy with my family she took me to the clinic. Kate wanted to raise you, but Katarina convinced her that you would be in too much danger,” he quietly finished his tale.

Lizzie had sat quietly, horrified to realize that Red had lost everything due to her parents and the Cabal. She understood now why he was so determined to take them down.

“I’m sorry, I had no idea. You must hate my parents and me for what happened to your wife and daughter,” she said horrified.

“I hated Reddington for his decision to switch his allegiance that caused the government to go after him and anyone close to him. I think the only reason they didn’t make his family disappear like they did mine was because they were using them as bait. They didn’t know that he’d died. One of the first things I did was ask Sam to go to the house and get the bones of your father out of there, if any still existed. I’d know Sam almost my entire life and I knew I could trust him,” he said.

“Why did you do that? Were you already planning to assume his identity?” she asked.

“No, not at that point. All I was trying to do was make them think that he was still alive. I figured as long as they thought he was alive the more they would think they could use his family as bait. It was after my back healed that I started trying to figure out how to deal with the people responsible for the murders of my family. Raymond Reddington already had a reputation for being able to get anything people wanted for the right price. During the course of our tenure with Naval Intelligence we’d both been required to take lives. While I did mine quietly, he did his in the open without any remorse. It was then that I realized he was a psychopath. In becoming him, I became one too,” he confessed quietly.

Lizzie didn’t know how to respond to his confession. Did taking lives even when technically necessary, make one a psychopath. If so, she was one too. Should either of them be in Agnes’s life if that is the case, or would it be inevitable that she would turn out to be one. It was obviously not a case of nature vs. nurture. She’d been raised a long way from the lifestyle of her parents. She still turned out to be just like them.

“How did you explain the differences in your appearances? Is that what Dr. Maltz was talking about when we visited him?” she asked curiously.

Red decided her being curious about the how and why he took her father’s identity was better than her angrily trying to find out his real identity.

“There were somethings Maltz couldn’t help with, but he was able to alter my face enough to pass as him. Of course, anyone that was really close to him would realize the slight differences,” he said with a slight smile remembering Carla’s reaction, and her hard slap to the face so like her husbands.

“What things couldn’t he help with?” 

Red gave a chuckle.

“Well, your father was 6’ 2”. I’m only 5’ 10”. I would have to wear some really high lifts to get close to his height. I discovered that if you act like the biggest man in the room people don’t notice your actual height,” he said with a smile.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed. It’s always surprising to me to see men who are bigger than you back down without seeming to notice their size advantage,” she said with an answering smile.

Their conversation was interrupted by the entrance of Brimley back into the room.

“Anything Teddy?” Red asked him.

They had to wait while he took a few deep breaths from the oxygen tank he dragged behind him.

“I’m not sure. I can tell she’s been conditioned to withstand interrogations, but she’s saying she’ll tell everything, but only to Ms. Keen,” he said not sparing a glance in Lizzie’s direction.

“Do you think you’ve softened her up enough already for us to trust her answers?”

“I’d bet the farm that she’s only trying to buy some time, for what I have no idea,” he wheezed before grabbing his oxygen mask again.

Red looked at Lizzie questioningly.

“Do you want to see what she says even knowing it’s all probably going to be lies?”

Lizzie looked uncertain. Did she want to have a conversation that would ultimately be a waste of time or take a chance she might actually learn something of value?

“I don’t know. What do you suggest?” she asked Red.

“I’d say go and see what she has to say, but realize she’s not going to give you a straight answer unless it’s to her benefit,” he told her.

With a nod of understanding she moved off to the other room.

“I didn’t want to say this with her in the room, but there’s no way she’s not an operative with her ability to withstand everything that I’ve thrown at her,” Brimley told him.

With a nod Red said, “I believe you Teddy. She’s good enough that I almost fell for her act. If she hadn’t overplayed her hand by faking Carla’s death I may have believed her. I just need to know who put her into play and why. If she knows the contends of the bag, then someone else does too and I need to know who it is.”

Lizzie approached the restrained woman seated in the middle of the room.

“I was told you had something to tell me,” she said from where she stopped out of the woman’s reach. She didn’t care that the woman was restrained. If she learned nothing from Tom, it was that restrained did not mean helpless.

“I’m going to tell you something fake Red is still probably refusing to tell you. His real name is Kenneth Rathers. I always thought it was pretty nervy that he used his real name as an alias,” she said with a smirk.

Lizzie found herself getting angry seeing the smirk on her “sister’s” face.

“I really don’t care what his name is any more I care what your real name is and who hired you to put on this act. So, let’s start with your real name,” Lizzie said with her anger barely held in check.

“My name would mean nothing to you. You know I’ll never give up my employer. If I did I wouldn’t have to worry about you or Rathers killing me, they would do it for you.”

“Then I guess I’ll tell Brimley he can come back in and get those answers out of you a lot less pleasantly,” she said and left without a backwards glance.


	4. Chapter 4

Lizzie found Red in the same spot he’d been in previously.

“What did she have to say?” he asked her rather surprised by her quick return.

“She gave me one answer, but not what we wanted to know. When I asked for her real name and employer she refused. I guess it’s up to you again Mr. Brimley,” she said retaking her seat across from Red.

Once Teddy had left the room Red asked Lizzie, “What answer did she give you?”

“She said your real name is Kenneth Rathers,“ she answered shortly.

“Do you believe her?” Red asked. 

He’d already decided her knowing his name was not any more of a threat that knowing the real Raymond Reddington was dead.

“Well, Kenneth Rathers is an alias you’ve used a lot. I never thought you look like a Kenneth, but you might have before the plastic surgery,” she said slightly mischievously.

“What do you think a Kenneth looks like exactly?” he asked suddenly very interested in her answer.

“Well, I was going to say someone that looks like an accountant, but with your penchant for three piece suits you could pass for an accountant,” she said with a sly smile.

“I’m pretty sure I’m insulted that you think an accountant could afford suits like mine. You could at last have said the head of some Fortune 500 company,” he said with a huff of annoyance.

“I’m sorry to have insulted your suits like that,” she said with a giggle.

Red didn’t know how to take the seemingly honest teasing that she was showing. Did the realization that the woman he’d accepted as her sister after only a couple of meetings was another imposter make her realize that Red was once again the only person in her life that hasn’t lied to her.

“You didn’t really answer my question; do you believe my name is really Kenneth Rathers?”

“I do. If only because I think she would give me your name to try and drive a wedge between us. She would try to use anything she has to make me mistrust you even more. And, so I would possibly trust her with an honest answer to that question,” she explained her reasoning.

Lizzie watched Red ponder her answer. She realized that she did in fact believe she had his real name at last. But, she was surprised to realize that she really didn’t care anymore what his name is, he was still the same man that had done everything necessary to keep her alive and safe. He’d earned some loyalty from her and it was about time she firmly came down on his side.

“I don’t see any need to deny that it was my name at one point. But, as I’ve said before I’ve spent more years as Raymond Reddington and would prefer that you keep using that name. I don’t think I would even respond to Kenneth or any variations any longer.”

“Don’t worry you are Raymond “Red” Reddington in my mind. I couldn’t change that at this point even if I tried.”

While they waited for Teddy to finish with Jennifer Red decided to ask Lizzie a question that he’d been curious about for a long time.

“What do you remember about the first few days of our run from the FBI after you shot Connolly? Do you remember our conversation while we waited for our escape vehicle to arrive?”

Lizzie looked at him in surprise. She had no memory after shooting the AG until they arrived in Iowa, in a very plush shipping container.

“No, I don’t. The first thing I remember after Cooper telling me to run was us arriving in Iowa. Did something happen before we got there?” she asked with a look of confusion.

“A number of things. It explains some of your actions that had confused me. But, for now we’ll concentrate on the conversation you don’t seem to remember. You called me to tell me that you shot Connolly. I told you to meet me in a nearby park and I’d arrange to get you away. When I met you there you mentioned that you remembered the night of the fire. You said you remembered shooting your father because he was hurting your mother. You said that I’d suppressed that memory, not to protect me, but to protect you. That I was your sin eater. I’d confessed that we’d altered your memories so you wouldn’t have to live with the memory of killing someone. It’s weird that you remember the fire, but not the fact that we suppressed it to protect you. The fact that you don’t have that memory or anything that happened until Iowa, makes me think your memories were altered again,” he told her.

By the time Red reached the end of his tale, she’d reached the same conclusion. But, she knew something he didn’t, Dr. Krilov told her he’d been hired a second time to alter her memories, only a couple of years earlier. At the time she’d assumed it was Red that hired him, now she realized it wasn’t him. Who hired Krilov then?

“I know they were altered a second time. After we captured Krilov he mentioned that he’d been hired a second time. Just a couple of years earlier. At the time, I thought it was you,” she confessed.

“No, it wasn’t me. When I brought him to the task force it was because I thought you were his target, not Ressler as it turned out,” he said hoping she’d believe he was telling her the truth and not doubting him as she usually did.

“Do you think it was Kaplan that hired him? I know she knew how to contact him after hiring him to alter Ressler’s memory.”

“Ugh, why didn’t I see that coming?” he asked rhetorically.

“See what coming?” she asked confused.

“I’d shared with her something that happened before we went to Iowa. It appears that she found the first moment after you’d been released from custody to have your memories altered so you wouldn’t remember what I’d shared with her. It also explains your altered behavior,” he said almost as if talking to himself.

Lizzie didn’t know where to start with her questions. Did she ask what happened before Iowa or what he meant by her altered behavior. She mentally flipped a coin and made a choice.

“What happened before we went to Iowa?”

Red hesitated. He promised to never lie to her and he found himself wanting to lie and tell her nothing important had happened. He knew if he lied now and she found out, she would never trust him in the future.

“There were a number of things that happened. You hid out at the Russian Embassy after we’d become separated. Ressler saved you from the Cabal arranging for your death once you were airborne on your way to Moscow. We took a café full of customers hostage to get my attorney released from prison. Once we got away from the café we took refuge on a cargo ship headed for Spain,” he stopped speaking when he realized he was rambling.

For the first time since Red had entered her life she realized he was uncomfortable with a question from her. He’d told convoluted stories before, but never without somewhat answering her question.

“I’m pretty sure Kaplan wouldn’t have hired him to make me forget any of that unless you’ve left something out.”

Red closed his eyes as he mentally kicked himself. She knew him too well to let him get away with such an obvious dodge.  
“Yeah, I did leave a little something out. After we’d left port I opened the door to the shipping container and showed you the North Star. I told you how sailors have that star to find their way home for centuries. I told you that was what you were to me, the way home,” he stopped speaking to see how she felt about what he’d said.

“You’ve said things like that to me before, why would Kaplan alter my memories to remove it?” 

“It wasn’t just what I said. It was what we did after that, which she wanted to make you forget,” he said uncomfortably.

Now Lizzie was even more confused, if that was possible. Red may ignore a question he doesn’t want to answer, but he never danced around one the way he was right now.

“So, what happened after?” 

“Did you ever run a paternity test on Agnes?” 

He seldom answered a question with a question. And, this question was one she’d never even considered.

“No, of course not. Why would I?” she answered with a question of her own.

Red knew he was confusing and frustrating Lizzie with his questions. He just didn’t want to tell her point blank. Like always he was trying to lead her to the answer on her own.

“When Nick delivered Agnes he said based on the dates you and Tome gave him that she was premature. Didn’t you wonder at all why she looked full term?”

This line of inquiry was quickly causing her to move from confused to angry. What exactly was Red trying to accomplish with all these questions about Agnes.

“She didn’t look as small as I expected with her being two months early. I trusted what Nick said and we were a bit distracted what with the faking my death thing goind on,” she said sarcastically.

Red knew he deserved her attitude. He’d lose patience too is someone refused to give him a straight answer.

“The reason she looked full term is that she was full term. She was conceived while we were on the run after you shot Connolly,” he answered finally.

Lizzie was stunned. She didn’t remember meeting up with Tom until right before she was arrested by Ressler. They’d been on the run for a couple of months by then. Of course, if Krilov messed with her memories she might not remember meeting Tom.

“I don’t remember Tom meeting us anywhere. When did we meet him?” she asked still confused as to why it would matter if Agnes was full term or premature. She was a happy and healthy toddler now.

“We didn’t meet Tom. What I’m trying to make you realize is that Tom is not Agnes’s father,” he finally confessed.

“If Tom is not her father, who is? You seem to know,” she spat the words at him.

Red closed his eyes with an almost silent sigh. She was really going to make him tell her.

“She was conceived during our night in the shipping container on the cargo ship,” he said trying to prepare himself for her reaction.

Lizzie thought he had to be kidding. If what he said was true why didn’t he say anything? Why would he let a man he hated raise his daughter?

Then suddenly she was inundated with images . . . images she could only assume were from the night in question. She suddenly found herself on her feet without any idea where she wanted to go.

Red stood up as well and reached out and put his hands on her shoulders. He’d never seen her look as wild as she did now.

“Lizzie, are you okay?” he asked trying to calm her down.

“I . . . I’m not sure. I remember somethings, but it seems like there are more memories missing than just that night,” she paused for a moment before she continued. “I do remember that night. It was amazing. We grew very close during our time on the run.”

“Yes, we did. I never knew why you started to act so distant. I assumed you wanted Tom. I wanted you to be happy and it appeared he made you happy. So, I backed off. Then you found out you were pregnant. It killed me to think you died giving birth to my child. At that time, Agnes was better off with Tom,” he confessed quietly.

“I’m sorry Red. I never apologized to you for putting you through that and not letting you see Agnes when she was born. I would never have done either of those things if I’d remembered you were her father. Can you forgive me?” she asked with tears in her eyes.

“Of course, I do. I didn’t anticipate Kate and Tom working together to hide Agnes’s true parentage. I don’t know what Kate was trying to do,” he said with a shake of his head.

Too much had happened is such a short time. Lizzie didn’t know how to feel about any of it. No, that isn’t true. If Tom wasn’t already dead, she would happily kill him. He must have loved rubbing Red’s nose in the power to keep Agnes away from him. Not to mention the farce of their last wedding. Just like the first time it was all a lie. Red knew it, but once again he was forced to stand by and watch another man, one that he loathed, in the place he belonged.

“I really thought that Tom had changed. You warned me that men like him never change and you were right. I feel like such a fool. I don’t know why you haven’t washed your hands of me,” she said miserably.

He couldn’t stand here and allow her to take the blame for what Mr. Kaplan and Tom did to her.

“Just like before, Tom morphed into the man he thought you wanted. The ability to deceive was as easy as breathing for him. You looked for the best in people and he played on that. I can’t blame you for the actions of others,” he told her before stepping forward and pulling her into his arms.

They remained this way, enjoying the feeling of being together once again, until Dembe entered the room.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but Brimley has extracted the name of the group that behind her introduction to Agent Keen.”

“Who is it?” Lizzie asked.

“Halcyon. Specifically, Scottie Hargrave. She said that they’d been hired to investigate dirty cops in the US Marshal’s office. Garvey shared the secret of the bones with her to get her to let him continue his business with the Nash Syndicate.”

Of all the names she could have provided Scottie Hargrave wasn’t even on the list that Red was expecting. He looked at Lizzie to gauge her reaction.

Lizzie was shocked. She’d given her daughter to the woman who caused Tom’s death. She knew that Tom never told Scottie about their familial connection. In reality, Scottie was responsible for her own son’s murder.

“We’ve got to get Agnes back from her,” she told Red desperately.

“We? Are we on the same side once again?” he asked the woman in his arms.

“You’re her father, of course we are on the same side. We need to get our daughter and find out if she’s told anyone else about the ‘real’ Raymond Reddington. I know you can’t leave anyone with that knowledge alive. I finally understand your need for secrecy. Better late than never I suppose.”

“We’ll get her back and deal with Scottie. Are you ready to get back to taking down the Cabal?” he asked hoping she would agree.

“Yes, I’m ready to get back into the fight. We need to expose them for what they did to your family and to make the world safe four our daughter and all the other innocents in the world,” she pledged.

Red new the fight would be long. With Lizzie and Dembe on his side he knew they would overcome any obstacles in their way.


End file.
